Overview

Use workflows to automate business processes behind the scenes. Workflows are typically initiated by system events so the user doesn’t need to be aware that they are running, but they can also be configured for people to manually initiate them. Workflows can operate in the background (asynchronously) or in real-time (synchronously). These are referred to separately as background workflows or real-time workflows.

• Properties
  • Scope: This is a setting for "Automatic Processes" (those that run automatically by CRM based on an action to an entity record). When an action occurs, the CRM platform uses the scope setting, in part, to determine whether or not to run an automatic workflow based on who initiated the action (record create, update, etc.) and that person's business unit.
    • The picklist options for the Scope setting include:
      • User: The workflow will run only for the user who initiated the action and who owns the workflow.
      • Business Unit: The workflow will run for the user who initiated the action and who owns the workflow plus for anyone else in the user's business unit.
      • Parent: Child Business Units: Same as above but also includes anyone in child business units.
      • Organization: The workflow will run for everyone in the organization.
• Copying a workflow: Deactivate the workflow to copy, set Activate As to "Process template", activate it, then create a new workflow based on the workflow template.
  • As you might expect, the new workflow differs from the template workflow only by GUID. If you examine the XAML for the template workflow and the new workflow, the GUIDs in the "<Activity>" node and in the "<this:XrmWorkflow..." nodes at the top of the XAM are the only differences.
  • Copy an existing workflow in Dynamics CRM 2011/2013

Sample Workflow Screens